Taking A Look At The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon is a thrilling, mystery crime that made its debut in 1941. Main character, Sam Spade, battles around town to find this treasured falcon. Spade doesn’t know what is so great about the falcon, however he just knows that it’s costing him his reputation around town. With the police watching his every move and the death of his partner, he is pressed for time. The film gives you a suspenseful feel, as if you are doing the dirty work right along with him. Director, John Huston, really raised the bar by incorporating crime film drama into a Classical Hollywood Film. The confusion between is slightly displayed but it does not affect the causality of the film. It conveys key principles from the Classical Hollywood era, as well as the …show more content…
Within this five minutes the audience is given so much. As the scene opens you get a shot of the entire room, the camera is angled directly in the center of the screen. The narrative opening starts with the way the lights are dimmed as Spade wakes up. It feels as if there is a start to something new. Immediately as Spade gets up and goes to the bathroom, you see an example of a temporal overlap, where in the living room’s camera shot he is walking into the bathroom, while in the bathroom’s camera shot he is walking into the bathroom again. It does not break the rule of continuity because there is still time where he does not get completely to the bathroom before the camera changes. Once he is in the bathroom, he begins to wash pat his face down with water. Then suddenly the camera jumps to another room while Spade walks in. You are still able to see the water glistening on his face. This exemplifies continuity because you see that the filmmaker is trying to show that Spade just walks out of the bathroom once he washes his face. Although you do not directly see that, the water is supposed to show that. Next Spade calls down to his office and speaks with Effie, his assistant. Within that phone call, you know that Spade is ready to get down to business. He tells her “let’s do something right for a change!” (Huston) There is a clear representation of character motivation …show more content…
“..the classical scene continues or closes off cause-effect developments left dangling in prior scenes while opening new causal lines for future development.” (Bordwell) The audience does not truly know what happens in between the time he leaves La Paloma and goes back to his office. This shows classical Hollywood editing. Furthermore, he is sitting back in the chair while Effie is standing behind him. The camera is positioned at a low angle facing upward towards the two. The first line is “Now you know as much as I know about it precious.” (Huston) You now know that he came back and told her the story of what happened. This line shows communication that a classical narrative conveys. The line fills the gap of what happens between the time he leaves La Paloma and what he does when he gets back to his office. As the two continue talking, someone barges into the office. But the camera does not just quickly turn to the door. It stays at that low position and slowly turns towards the door as the music is anticipated. While it is turning you get a glance at Spade and Effie’s facial expressions. They do not recognize the person coming in. As he walks in, he is not in good condition. He is swaying from side to side and he has a bundle wrapped in newspaper. Spade jumps up in front of him and they are sort of eye to eye although it is not a direct eye-line match. You get the